Gate and door opening device



J. TENBROOK GATE AND DOOR OPENING DEVICE Juiy 1, 1930.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 8, 1928 dbkomaq July 1, 1930.

J. TENBROOK 1, 69,195

GATE AND DOOR OPENING DEVICE Filed Dc. 8, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedJuly '1, 1930- JOHN TENBROOK, OF GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO GATE ANDIDOQR OPENING DEVICE Application filed December 8, 1928. Serial No.324,700.

This invention relates to mechanism for automatically opening andclosing gates or doors and particularly to automatic door or gateoperating mechanism of that character wherein an approaching vehiclewill open the gate or door automatically without the necessity of thedriver descending for this purpose or operating any levers, pull rods orthe like. I

; The general object of this invention is to provide a gate or dooropening mechanism which is very simple, which maybe cheaply constructed,which has been found to be easily operated in actual practice and whichisis adapted for opening doors or gates of all kinds whether these doorsor gates swing horizontally, vertically or move bodily upward orlaterally.

A further object is to provide a structure of this character wherein thegate ordoor is operated by two connected levers or guides operativelysupported inthe roadway normally at an obtuse angle to each other andextending alon the ground oradjacent the read and normally disposed soas to project into the path of movement of a wheel of the vehicle, theselevers or guide members being so connected to the gate or door, that'asthey are forced into a position parallel to the roadway, they will causethe gate or door to swing open, the gate or door closing by I gravity aswill hereinafter appear.

A still further object is to provide means whereby the 911E601" door maybe opened either automatically or whereby it may be opened by hand froma distance without the driver leaving the wagon or by someone walkingand whereby Whenso opened, the

gate or door will stay open until. the gate operating device on theopposite side is p ate a Another object is to provide means inconnection with the operating levers heretofore referred to whereby avehicle must strike the lev rs on approaching L116 gate. Other objectswill appear in the course of the following description. 7

My invent-ionis illustrated in the accompanying drawings,-wherein: IFigure I is a perspective view of my gate movable gate;

ble gate with my invention applied thereto.

opening mechanism applied to one form of gate showing the gate closed; a

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view showing the means for rockingly andslidingly connecting the two actuating levers; Figure 3 is a fragmentaryelevation ofthe latch lifting means on the free end of the gate;

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional View through the gate at its pivotendand showin the operative connection between oneof the levers and thegate;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4; v a

Figure 6 is afragmentary top plan view showing the. manner in which myinvention may be applied to a collapsible or vertically Figure 7 is asideelevation of a collapsi- It is to be understood that the operatingmechanism which I am about to describe is applicable for the purpose ofopening either doors or gates. I have illustrated two forms of gates towhich my opening mechanism is applied and I will hereafter, in describing the structure illustrated in the drawings, describe the application ofthe device to gates properly so called but I wish itdistinctlyunderstood that it may be applied to ea doors and that by theword gate wherever used, either in the description or in the claims,that I use it as covering any closure having the character of a gate ordoor. While I have illustrated two forms of gates i to which the devicemay be applied, it is to be understood that it is equally applicablebodily or shift laterally bodily or in other 'words to sliding gates ordoors, whether these ates or doors slide vertically or horizontally. I

Referring to Figure l, 10 designates 0 gate post upon which the gate '11is operatively hinged for swinging movement in .a horizontal plane 'asby pivoting the gate upon a pintle 10 operatively supported at its upperend upon a cross bar 10 and at ce its lower end by being mounted upon asuitable footing.

Swingingly'mounted upon the post 10 is a lever 15. This lever ispreferably supported by an angular yoke 16 extending over a nail, eye orany other fulcrum 17 on the post. This lever tends by its own gravity toswing outward or toward the road. Operatively connected to the lower endof thisv or guide plank 18 is disposed at an acute.

angle to the margin A of the roadway.

' Goacting with this lever 18 is another long guide plank or lever 20which at its end is loosely pivoted to a post 19 corresponding to thepostv 19 but on the other side of the gate.

The. lever 20 is mounted upon a post 21 in the same manner as is theoperating lever or guide plank 18, that is, there is an upwardly andoutwardly inclined supporting lever 15 having the yoke 16 passing over apin 17 on the post 21. Under the action of gravity, this lever tends toswing outward, toward the road and slightly upward. The two levers 18.and 20 are slidingly and rockingly engaged with each other at the point18 so that these levers may be pushed inward approximately parallel tothe surface of the road until they lie along or parallel to the margin Aof the road.

Disposed along the other margin B of the road are one or more guideplanks or poles 22 which are of sufficient height above the ground as toform an abutment over which the car or vehicle will not pass and whichwill thereby compel the car or vehicle to travel along the road C insuch a manner that the forward wheels of the vehicle will strike theoperating lever 18 when the car or vehicle is moving in one directionand the operating lever 20 when the car or vehicle is moving in anotherdirection.

Pivoted to the lower end of the lever 15 for swinging movement in a.horizontal plane is a link 23 which at its outer end has a pin orequivalent member extending into a slot 24 formed in the lower bar 25 ofthe gate. The slot 24 is to permit this link 23 to move a distance, asfor instance, say'two inches before the end of the link 23, will strikethe end of the slot 24 and move the gaged to a lever 26 pivotallymounted upon the frame of'the gate, this lever in turn being connectedto a flexible connection, wire,

chain, cord or the like 27 to the link 23. It will be obvious,therefore, that as the lever 18 is moved inward or toward the side A ofthe road, the link or member 23 will move toward the gate andparticularly along the slot 24. This movement will pull upon the cord 27or other connection and this, through the lever 26, will release thelatch from the keeper 13. When the link 23 has reached the end of theslot 24, it will exert pushing force upon the gate and the gate willswing upon its hinges in the direction of the arrow in Figure 4 untilthe levers 18 and 20 are approximately parallel to the margin A of theroad, when the gate will be fully opened. 7

After the vehicle has passed the levers 18 and 20, the lever 15 with itssling 16 will tend to swing toward the center of the road under theaction of gravity acting upon the projecting arm of the lever 15 andalso by reason of the weight of a depending link 28 pivotally engaged atits upper end with the arm or lever 15. This link 28 ma carry upon it aweight or it may be of sufiibiently heavy stock so as to act as a weightitself. Furthermore, this link at its lower end is connected to anoperating lever 29.

This lever 29 is unequally pivoted so that that end of the lever 29which is connected to the link 28 is heavier than the other end ofthelever so that this will also tend to pull the link 28 downward and swingthe lever 15 toward the center of the road.

A like lever 29 is connected by a link 28 to the arm or lever 15 on thepost 21. The purpose of the lever 29 (or 29*) is to provide meanswhereby the gate may be opened by walkers or by the drivers of vehicleslike hay wagons, harvesters, threshers, etc., who wish to pass throughthe gate without having the gate swing to before a relativel} longvehicle such as a hay wagon has passed through. To this end, the lever29 (and the same applies to the lever 29 at its end remote from the link28 has a pull cord 30 attached thereto having a ring 31 at its lowerend. Disposed slightly beyond the ring of the depending pull cord is thepost 19 having thereon a pin 32with which thering is adapted to engagewhen the lever 29 has been pulled down. The lever 29 is mounted upon apost 33 which carries upon it the detent 34 formed to engage the tooth35.

The cord 30 is connected to the end of the lever 29 by means of ashortarm '36 which is pivoted to the lever 29 and from this short armextends a rod 37 which is pivotally engaged with the latch 35. If nowthe cord 30 be pulled toward the gate 11, it will not only swingdownward upon the outer end of the lever 29 but it will also act toforce the lever 35. over toward the post 33 and as the lever 29 movesdownward, the latch will move downward and eventually engage with thekeeper 3a.

The downward movement of the end of the lever 29 remote from the gatewill act to lift up on the link 29 and this will lift up on the upperend of thearin or lever 15, thus swinging the lower end of the arm 15rearward or toward the post '10 and, of course, acting to openthe'gatein'the same manner as if the wheel operated levers-18 and 20 hadbeenactuated. The latch will, of course, hold the gate in its openedposition and the gate will remain open until the driver reaches the post19 where he pulls the rope 30 after his team has passel through thegate, thus tilting the gate hack slightly more which acts to release thelatch 35 which swings open or to a depending position. Then upon therelease of the rope, the gate swings to by gravity.

If the operator pulls downward on the gate and engages the ring 31 witlthe pin 32, the tension exerted by gravity will tend to hold the ring 31on the pin but the minute the other rope 30 is pulled at the post 19,for instance, this will slacken up slightly on the tension exerted'bythe cord 30 and the ring 31 will swing laterally under the action ofgravity away from the pin it will thus be seen that the gate may heoperated either by contact with the wheels of the vehicle with theoperating levers or guide planks 18 and'EZO or by operating the levers29 and 29 and that the latches and 85 may he used to latch the gate inits open position or that the rings 31 may be used for the same purpose.I

In Figure 6 I have illustrated the manner in which these long guideplanks may be applied to operate a collapsible gate, that is, a gatewhich swings in a vertical plane and is composed of pivotally connectedhorizontal bars 11, these being pivoted atone end to a post 88.

The opposite end of the gate passes down between two posts 89. In thiscase the two operating levers 18 and 20 do not have to be slidingly andhingedly connected to each other as illustrated in Figure 6 but fromeach of these operating levers extends a link 40 which is pivoted to thecorresponding operating lever and pivoted to one of the gate bars 11.Thus as either operating lever is forced toward the side of the road,the gate will beturned upon its pivots into a vertical position and whenthe pressure is released on the operating levers 18 or 20 the gate willfall by its own weight. Thus, as a vehicle approaches the gate andengages one of the'operating levers, as for instance the operatinglever18, the gate will be gradually forced upward and as the vehicleasses the gate and moves along the gate will gradually close. I have notillustrated my gate as applied to a vertically or laterally sliding gateor door but it will be obvious that it may bevery readily appliedtiereto to secure theoperation of the same and that it is within thepurview of my invention to so apply it.

Thus my invention may be readily 'applied to the sliding doors ofgarages or to the'swinging doors thereof. Again I reiterate that I donot wish to be limited to any particular form of gate which is adaptedto be operated by my gate opening and closing mechanism nor to anymaterials as the may be made of wood or metal or a combination of woodand metal, the draw-- The length of the levers 18 and 20 will dependupon the circumstances of operation. These levers or guide planks shouldnot be shorter than thirty feet for any gate or door but can he onehundred feet long if it is desired to permit a rapidly moving car toopen the gate without opening the gateto fast. here a lever is disposedwithin a garage or in connection with a door such as a garage door, thelevers will not be ofsuch length. If a door opens outward, the insideguide plank or lever constituting the movement thereof must be twelveinches longer than the car. If the door opens inward, this inner guideplank must be three feet longer than the car but, of course, the outsideguide plank can he of any length desired. it is to be also understoodthat the levers 29 may he of any desired length but I wish it to beparticularly understood that while I have stated certain practicallengths for the levers 18 and 20 or for these levers when they aredisposed to open a garage door or like door, I distinctly do not wish tobe limited to any length for the lovers 18 or 20 or the levers 29 or 29as the levers 18 and 520 may be made short where a driver is willing toreduce his speed before engaging these levers 18 or 20. The longer thelevers 18 and 20, the more rapidly the driver can approach the gate andopen it without causing the gate to open too rapidly or close to rapidlyas the driver .is leaving it. The shorter the levers 18 and 20 the morethe driver will have to slow down in approching the gate.

Very long levers or guide planks such as 18 and 20 would'have to bereinforced, as for instance, by a reinforcing beam so that these leverswould then be T-shaped in cross section as illustrated in Figure 5.other hand, long poles may be substituted for these planks and willoperate in the same way without any likelihood of the poles giv- On thea It will be noted that in Figure 1 the operating lever 18 has beenshown as broken away and that the cross bar 10 has also been brokenaway. This is to indicate that the operating lever 18 may be of anydesired length and extend beyond the gate 11 to any desired extent. Thegate 11 in swinging open should not extend beyond the joint 18 asotherwise it will be likely to be struck by vehicle approaching from thedirection of the post 19*. In other words, when a car approaches alongthe operating lever 20, the car would be likely to catch on the endofthe gate before it is fully opened. The slip joint 18 is spaced from itspivotal center 1O a distance equal to the length of the gate. It will beunderstood that a Ford car with 30 X 3 tires will not open the gate asquickly as a car with five or six inch tires and the abutment planks orposts 22 must be set the correct distance on opposite sides of the roadto cause the gate to fully open before a 30 x 8 tire can reach the joint18. Cars with a greater spread of tire will open the gate more thanfully open and it will be noted that there is nothing to stop the gatefrom going through the opening between the posts as far as necessary toallow the levers 18 and 20 to recede far enough to pass a full widthcar. The abutment 22 is to be set to fit a narrow wheel base withoutpushing the levers 18 and 20 clear over to the posts. This allows roomfor the wider cars to push the levers 18 and 20 further over and thegate more than fully open.

It will be understood from the above, therefore, that the drawings donot show the exact proportions of the parts, but merely illustrate theprinciple of the invention.

An operating mechanism of this kind may be used for large farm gates orrelatively smaller gates.

The operating mechanism does not sustain the weight of the gate at alland'the operating levers are so balanced by the swinging arms or levers15 that a very easy'operation is secured.

This construction can be cheaply made, easily set up, involves nomaterial which is not commonly found on farms, and has been foundthoroughly effective in practice.

l Vhile I have illustrated certain details of construction andarrangements of parts, I do not wish to be limited to these nor to anyparticular material as many minor changes might be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appendedclaims.

These gates can be made of materials which may be found anywhere and byanyone handy with tools. The gate may be built for less than half thecost of an ordinary gate, will work in all kinds of weather and for allkinds of cars, farm wagons, hay Wagons, and teams. This device will openalmost any kind of gate or door and obviously, therefore, I do not wishto be limited to the particular character of the gate or door. r

V I claim 1. in a gate or door operating mechanism, a gate, two vehicleactuated levers having sliding and rocking engagement with each other attheir adjacent ends and pivotally supported at their remote ends, one ofsaid levers extending beneath the gate and said levers when the gate isclosed being disposed at an obtuse angle to each other and projectinginto the roadway, means operatively connecting the gate to said. leverswhereby as the levers are forced toward the post, the gate will open,means urging the gate to a closed position, manually operable meansdisposed on opposite sides of the gate and at a distance therefrom andoperatively connected to the actuating levers whereby the gate may bemanually operated, a member having a keeper disposed on theside of theroadway, a latch on the gate adapted to engage the keeper to hold thegate closed, means operated. by and operatively connected to theactuating levers whereby the latch shall be disengaged from the keeperupon an initial movement of the actuating levers, and including a leveroperatively connected to the latch and a flexible connection from saidlever to one of the actuating levers.

2. In a gate or door operating mechanism a supporting element, a gatecarried thereby, a latching post having a keeper, a latch mounted uponthegate and engageable with the keeper, two vehicle operated levershaving sliding and rocking engagement with each other at their adj acentends and pivotally supported at their remote ends, one of said leversextending beneath the gate "and said levers when the gate is closedbedisposed at an obtuse angle to each other and at an acute angle to themarginof the road and projecting thereinto, a link operativelyconnecting one of said levers to the gate, the link having limitedsliding movement with relation to the gate, means yieldingly urging thelevers to a projected position but yielding to :permit the move ment ofthe levers toward an alined position when engaged by a vehicle, and anoperative connection between one of said levers and the latch whereby tocause the lifting of the latch as said l ver is initially moved underthe action of the vehicle.

8. In a gate or door operating mechanism a supporting element, a gatemounted there- 'on, two vehicle operated actuating levers pivotallysupported at their remote ends, said levers when the gate is closedbeing disposed at an obtuse angle to each other and projecting into theroadway, a support for one of said levers pivoted upon the post andswinging inward toward the middle of the road under the action ofgravity, and an operative connection from said lever to the gate wherebyupon an outward movement of the lever, the gate will open and the gatewill close upon an inward movement of the lever.

4. In a gate or door operating mecha nism, a supporting element, a gateswingable thereon, a second supporting element disposed at a distancefrom the first named supporting element, an arm mounted for bodilyswinging movement upon each of said elements and extending downward andtoward the middle of the road, a pair of vehicle operated actuatinglevers pivotally supported at their remote ends, said levers when thegate is closed being disposed at an obtuse angle to each other andprojecting into the roadway, the levers having operative connection withthe gate, whereby as a lever is shifted outward the gate will open andwhereby as a lever is shifted inward or toward the roadway, the gatewill close,

each of said levers being supported upon one of said swinging arms 5. Ina gate or door operating mechanism, a supporting element, a gateswingably mounted thereon, a second supporting element disposed adistance from the first named supporting element, an arm mounted forbodily swinging movement upon each of said posts and extending downwardand toward the middle of the road, a pair of vehicle operated actuatinglevers having sliding hinged engagement with each other at theiradjacent ends and pivotally supported at their remote ends, said leverswhen the gate is closed being disposed at an obtuse angle to each otherand projecting into the roadway, said levers having operative connectionwith the gate whereby as a lever is shifted inward the gate will openand whereby as a lever is shifted outward or toward the roadway, thegate will close,

each of said levers being supported upon one of said swinging arms, liftlevers supported for movement in a vertical plane on each side of thegate, and a link connecting the inner end of each lift lever with theupper end of the adjacent swinging arm.

6. In a gate or door operating mechanism, a supporting element, a gate,a second supporting element disposed a distance from the first namedsupporting element, an arm mounted for bodily swinging movement uponeach of said elements and extending downward and toward the middle ofthe road, a pair of vehicle operated actuating levers pivotallysupported at their remote ends, said levers when the gate is closedbeing disposed at an obtuse angle to each other and projecting into theroadway, the levers having operative connection with the gate whereby asthe lever is shifted outward,

the gate will open and whereby as the lever is shifted inward, or towardthe roadway,

the-gate will close, eachof said levers being supported upon one of saidswinging arms, lift, levers supported for movement in a vertical planeon each side of the gate, a link connecting the inner end of each liftlever with the upper end of the adjacent swinging arm, and meansattached to each lift lever whereby it may be latched in a position withits inner end raised.

'2'. In a gate or door opening mechanism, a supporting element, a gatecarried thereby, a second supporting element spaced from the firstsupporting element and on the same side of the road thereas, anarmextending diagonally with relation to each element and across thesame, an angular yoke supporting,

each arm and suspended upon the respective element for swingingmovement, two vehicle operated actuating levers each supported upon oneof said arms and pivotally supported at their remote ends, said leverswhen the gate is closed being disposed at an obtuse angle to each otherand at an acute angle to the margin ofthe roadway and projectingthereinto, means causing the upper ends of the arms to swing downward tothus urge the levers to a position partially obstructing the roadway,and a link operatively connecting a lever to the gate.

8. In a gate or door operating mechanism, a supporting element, a gateswingingly carried thereby, a second supporting element spaced from thefirst element and on the same side of the road thereas, an arm extending diagonally with relation to each element and across the same, anangular yoke supporting each arm and suspended upon the respectiveelements for swinging movement, two vehicle operated actuating leverseach supported upon one of said arms and pivotally supported at theirremote ends, said levers when the gate is closed being disposed at anobtuse angle to each other and at an acute angle to the margin of theroadway and projecting thereinto, means causing the upper ends of thearms to swing downward to thus urge the levers to a position partiallyobstructing the roadway, a link operatively connecting a lever to thegate and having limited movement with relation to the gate andoperatively engaging the gate to cause the gate to open as the leverswings outward parallel to the road or close asthe lever swings inwardinto angular relation to the axis of the road, a third element mountedopposite the first named post and carrying a keeper, a latch on the gateengaging said keeper, and a flexible connection operatively connected tothe latch and to said link to cause the retraction of the latch upon aninitial movement of the link inward relative to the gate.

9! In a gate or door operating mechanism,

a supporting element, a gate mounted thereon, means for urging the gateto aclosed position including an arm extending diagonally downwardacross the supporting element and suspended therefrom for pivotalswinging movement, operative connections between said arm and the gateto cause it to swing outward as the gate is opened and inward as thegate is closed, vehicle operated means for shifting the gate to an openposition a manually operable lever mounted adjacent the roadside andmoving-in a vertical plane, a link connecting the lever to the upper endof said arm, a post supporting the lever and having a detent tooth, alatch swingingly mounted upon the lever and spaced from the post andadapted when the latch is swung toward the post to engage said detenttooth, and manually operable means for lowering the latch end of saidlifting lever and simultaneously swinging the latch toward the post anddetent. 1 a

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

JOHN TENBROOK.

